ACCRA, July 26 (Reuters) - Ghana accepted all 471 million cedis ($98 million) worth of bids tendered for a 3-year domestic bond issued on Thursday and will pay a slightly higher yield of 18 percent compared to the last sale, joint book-builders Barclays Bank Ghana said.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it regrets that Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has failed to publicly state that he will not run for re-election in a planned December election, warning him that "the time for posturing is over."

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Hundreds of South African gold mine workers were rescued and over 100 treated for smoke inhalation after an underground fire, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue of a nuclear power deal at a private meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg on Thursday, but his host said Pretoria could not sign such a deal for now, Ramaphosa's spokeswoman said.

DALOA, Ivory Coast, July 26 (Reuters) - Heavy rain in Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions has damaged flowers and small pods on trees, pod counters and farmers said, raising concern for the development of the upcoming main crop.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Leaders of the BRICS bloc signed a declaration supporting an open and inclusive multilateral trading system as envisaged by the World Trade Organisation at a summit on Thursday in South Africa.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's tourism minister on Thursday blamed negligence by conservation officers for the death of 10 endangered black rhinos in a bungled relocation last month.

HARARE (Reuters) - Whether you're a foreign investor, a Western diplomat or a Zimbabwean voter, the hope was that after Robert Mugabe was ousted last year there would be a 'free and fair' election.

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Vedanta Resources Plc's Zambian unit said on Thursday work at its Konkola Copper Mine underground copper shaft 4 was halted after one miner was killed in an accident to allow for investigations into the incident, the company said.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Google launched a network of free Wi-Fi hotspots in Nigeria on Thursday, part of its effort to increase its presence in Africa's most populous nation.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a concerted effort by global institutions such as the United Nations, the G7 and the World Trade Organisation to fight unilateralism and protectionism in a speech on Thursday at the BRICS summit in South Africa.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The project manager of a $4 billion Ethiopian dam being built on the river Nile has been found dead, a Reuters photographer said on Thursday.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The project manager of an Ethiopian mega-dam that is at the heart of a dispute between Addis Ababa and Egypt over fears it will reduce the Nile river's flow has been found dead, state-affiliated media said on Thursday.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Violence in Nigeria between semi-nomadic cattle herders and settled farmers has killed around six times more people than deaths related to the Boko Haram insurgency in the first half of 2018, and poses a major threat to the country's stability, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Thursday.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Somalia's Attorney General Ahmed Ali Dahir announced on Wednesday the country's first ever prosecution against female genital mutilation (FGM) following the death of a 10-year-old girl, an adviser to the government said.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The project manager of an Ethiopian mega-dam that is at the heart of a dispute between Addis Ababa and Egypt over fears it will reduce the Nile river's flow has been found dead, state-affiliated media said on Thursday.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Violence in Nigeria between semi-nomadic cattle herders and settled farmers has killed around six times more people than deaths related to the Boko Haram insurgency in the first half of 2018, and poses a major threat to the country's stability, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Thursday.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan's government and the main rebel group inked a power-sharing deal in the Sudanese capital on Wednesday which they hope will end years of conflict, a Reuters witness said, but smaller opposition groups have refrained from signing.